Yukinori Mera

Dose-dependent effects of butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene and ethoxyquin in induction of foci of rat liver cells containing the placental form of glutathione S-transferase

The dose-dependence effects of 3 antioxidants, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA: 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT: 1.0%, 0.5% and 0.25%) and ethoxyquin (EQ: 0.5%, 0.25% and 0.125%) combined with partial hepatectomy on the development of preneoplastic lesions in the liver of diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 200 mg/kg body wt)-treated rats were investigated. Feeding of the antioxidants commenced 2 weeks after the single dose of DEN used to initiate the lesions. gamma-Glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GT) and the placental form of glutathione S-transferase (GST-P) were used for quantitation of altered focal populations. Results with both markers demonstrated a dose-dependent decrease of foci in BHA-treated rats relative to those in control rats. Morphometric analysis of gamma-GT-positive lesions also revealed decrease in both the number and area of foci in BHT- and EQ-treated groups. The discrepancy between results of quantitation of gamma-GT- and GST-P-positive foci was attributable to the induction of a background, periportal zone staining for gamma-GT, which made differentiation of smaller foci difficult. Comparison of results with the 2 markers suggested that GST-P is the more accurate marker for quantitative studies on enzyme altered foci in rat liver.

Enhancement of phenotypic instability by α-difluoro-methylornithine and butylated hydroxyanisole in rapidly induced rat liver lesions

The effects of alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), sodium phenobarbital (PB) and 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) administration on the further development of rat liver nodular lesions induced in a short-term system were investigated. The results clearly demonstrated an association between DFMO and BHA treatment with reduction in numbers of persisting nodules as assayed histopathologically and by analysis of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (gamma GT) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) positive populations. PB and to a lesser extent AAF, on the other hand, appeared to exert an opposite effect, apparently enhancing the phenotypic stability of the nodular putative preneoplastic lesions.

Mechanism for distribution of acotiamide, a novel gastroprokinetic agent for the treatment of functional dyspepsia, in rat stomach

The novel gastroprokinetic agent acotiamide improves gastric motility by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity in stomach; however, the mechanism of distribution of acotiamide from blood to stomach has not been clarified. Here, the tissue distribution of acotiamide was investigated in rats. The tissue-to-plasma concentration ratio (K(p,app,in vivo)) for stomach decreased from 4.1 to 2.4 mL/g of tissue at steady state with increasing plasma concentrations, whereas the K(p,app,in vivo) for skeletal muscle was much lower and constant, regardless of the concentration of acotiamide in plasma. In vitro binding to stomach tissue protein exhibited a linear profile, with a predicted K(p,app,in vitro) of 2.2 from free fractions under linear conditions. Therefore, protein binding to stomach tissue might only play a limited role in the stomach distribution of acotiamide. The influx permeability (f (u,b) × PS(inf,app)) in the stomach exhibited dose-dependent saturation at the lowest range of examined blood unbound concentrations of acotiamide, whereas that in skeletal muscle exhibited only minimal dose dependence. In addition, the unbound concentration ratio of stomach to plasma (2.8) at steady state was markedly higher than unity. Taken together, these results suggest that carrier-mediated concentrative uptake processes play an important role in the distribution of acotiamide to the stomach but not skeletal muscle.

Ornithine decarboxylase activity and DNA synthesis in rats after long term treatment with butylated hydroxyanisole, sodium saccharin or phenobarbital

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity and DNA synthesis were measured in the forestomach, urinary bladder and liver of rats given diet containing 2% butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), 5% sodium saccharin (SS) or 0.05% phenobarbital (PB) for 21 weeks. ODC activity was not increased significantly in any of these organs in any of the groups, but the labeling index (LI) of the forestomach epithelium was increased by BHA and PB, and that of the urinary bladder epithelium by SS. PB did not increase the LI of the liver. These results do not indicate any relation between the effects of promoters, and the ODC activity or DNA synthesis in non-initiated target organs.

Concentration dependence of 5-aminosalicylic acid pharmacological actions in intestinal mucosa after oral administration of a pH-dependent formulation.

Asacol, a medication that delivers delayed release 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), is a useful therapeutic agent for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but the relationship between its pharmacological actions and intestinal concentrations has not been studied in detail. Therefore, our aim was to assess 5-ASAs pharmacological actions as a function of its concentration at its target site. We first evaluated 5-ASAs release profiles in vitro by the paddle method and found that Asacol starts to release 5-ASA at pH ≥ 7. Orally administered Asacol pharmacokinetic parameters were evaluated in dogs. Asacols T(max) was much longer than that of the time-dependent release 5-ASA formulation. We also determined 5-ASAs distribution in the intestinal mucosa and found that it is effectively delivered there by Asacol. These results indicated that Asacol released 5-ASA in a pH-dependent manner, resulting in efficient delivery to the large intestine. We also compared the mucosal 5-ASA concentrations with the IC(50) values for scavenging free radicals or suppressing LTB(4) production. The 5-ASA concentration in the large intestine was higher than IC(50) values necessary to suppress inflammatory processes. We also report the release characteristics of Asacol and the targeted delivery of 5-ASA to affected sites in IBD patients.